Drawings

Curatorial

Directors :

Yutaka Inagawa (artist)

Tamaki Ono + Kiyohito Mikami (artist unit MOUHITORI)

Hitomi Kanemoto (STUDIO NIJI)

Design Direction :

STUDIO NIJI

CONCEPT

The title for this project was borrowed from the epigraph for Howards End, a 1910 novel by E. M. Forster. In society, we often encounter opposing ideas on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, etc. and in such circumstances this term, “only connect,” reflects one’s approach in moving closer to people with values, thoughts and customs different to our own. Paradoxically, “only connect” also conveys a sense that we will never fully understand another person, even after getting to know them very well. Today’s innovations and advances in transportation and communication networks have boosted economic, cultural and personal interaction. At the same time, however, they have made our lives even more complex. In this sense, it is absolutely imperative to have mutual understanding of those with diverse backgrounds in order to be able to respond to the numerous issues that we face. Thus, although the term “only connect” comes from a novel dating all the way back to 1910, it still resonates strongly today.

The unique perspectives of each artist in relation to this concept are reflected in their work. With deep insight and rich imagination, they pose serious questions regarding how we connect with the world, tackle problems, and shape the future. In this project, the viewer is challenged to look beyond that which is visible and take a first step to move across boundaries and connect with others. With that step, they can then explore the possibilities of a world in which there is true diversity of values.

Dogs in a Room (2015)

Curators :

Yutaka Inagawa

Mouhitori (Tamaki Ono & Kiyohito Mikami)

Design Direction :

STUDIO NIJI

25 July through 17 August 2015 at Komyoji-kaikan, Onomichi, Japan

PRESS RELEASE

In the summer of 2015, ONLY CONNECT will present OC: Dogs in a Room, the inaugural exhibition of an exhibition series taking place in cities around the globe over the course of the next five years. Each exhibition is a survey of artistic cultural differences and potential conflict and integration within the era of multiculturalism. The shows will explore how pluralism can be expressed in contemporary art practice and how this may be read in a variety of contexts.

The central focus of OC：Dogs in a Room is to examine the boundaries between individual art works, artists and spatial or architectural elements within the form of an exhibition. In OC: Dogs in a Room, the relationship between each artist and the control they have over their art’s experience by the viewer will be on the brink of collapse.

The exhibition will aim to create a situation in which turmoil rules and to undermine traditional concepts of individual or communal displays of artwork. Among the artworks, the viewer will encounter quadruped objects created from abandoned furniture and construction materials excavated from the derelict houses on the hillsides of Onomichi. Large wheels will give these creatures the mobility to patrol the space, resembling the wild dogs which prowl the surrounding countryside. Nine artists have been invited to interact with this four-legged furniture and the venue’s history and structure.

The magnified disharmony of the environment is designed to both perplex and challenge viewers and artists, leading to new possibilities in the reading and experience of the work. The overall effect should be mysterious and chaotic; drawing visitors on a disorientating journey which leads them to question how they should interact with the artwork and to what extent creation relies on individualism to enforce its identity.

Participating artists

Mayako Hakusui

Lee Hochoul

Yutaka Inagawa

Andreas Kressig

Nicola Morrison

Mouhitori (artist duo)

Tomoe Murakami

Hayato Sugii

Akira Yasuda

The exhibition will coincide with the exhibition of UK artist Emily Speed at Room A, Komyoji-kaikan as part of Indefinable Cities, a series of travelling exhibitions to be held in the UK ( Stoke-on-Trent) and Japan (Kanazawa, Hikone, Osaka, Uno, Onomichi, Kochi, )

Dogs in a Room is generously supported by Fukutake Foundation, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN FOUNDATION, Asahi Art Festival 2015 (Hosted by AAF Network Executive Committee, Co-sponsored by Ashahi Breweries, Ltd. Assisted by Ashahi Group Arts Foundation) and in partnership with AIR 2015, Indefinable Cities, Open Air Museum 2015, AIR zine and AIR CAFÉ

dr/op (2016)

Curators :

Yutaka Inagawa

Mouhitori (Tamaki Ono & Kiyohito Mikami)

Design Direction :

STUDIO NIJI

3 May through 22 May 2016 at Komyoji-kaikan, Onomichi, Japan

CURATORIAL BRIEF

“Transport, fugitive, exile, migration, immigration. Someone forced to evacuate and to desire evacuation, the boundary between them is dissolved consistently. I am not going to be a bystander just waiting for someone to draw a line.” - Kiyohito Mikami, exhibiting artist

Thus, it was decided that the drawings for this exhibition should be placed at a level closer to the ground. Like pitching a tent on the borderland where the moments of encounter begin below the comfort zone.

The exhibition presents drawings by 23 artists from Japan, Greece, Italy, Singapore and the United Kingdom. The works on view ranged from the process-derived to the conceptual, from representation to abstraction. A drawing can exist in a variety of format such as painting, photograph, collage, sculpture, an installation, or as a performance. This exhibition does not aim to define contemporary drawing but to present works that suggest a wide array of possibilities. Drawing is thinking and the key to drawing out these thought processes is conversation.

The works are presented on table-like platforms put together using recycled materials collected from derelict houses around the Higashitsuchido-cho area in Hiroshima. These tables, exactly 13 centimetres above ground level, will set the stage for viewers to meet and deliberate upon the works. The setting requires the viewer to go close to the ground; lie on their front if necessary to view the work.

Success in art lies in the richness of the conversation; from who made the work to where and how the work is presented. Mini microphones are attached on some of the tables to record sounds and capture any conversations between visitors within the gallery space. The recorded sounds are broadcast live, simultaneously within a few second’s delay, to the other two levels of the gallery space. The sounds and conversations will be recorded, overlapped and broadcast throughout the exhibition period. The continuous recording will render the sound to an echo thereby denying any one-dimensional translation of its content. This sound of polyrhythm reflects the dynamic and complex nature of culture, thus the importance of generating ongoing conversation.

Prior to the physical act of drawing a line/ boundary/ border, we need to be first aware of the ground where we stand, and where the border begins.

Animations

Pseudo-Code Making and the Galapagos Syndrome-Like Confusion

Yutaka Inagawa Artist Statement 2013

The starting point of my practical work is to sample whole or fragmented images, of which I am certain about their place of origin and their relation to myself, rather than random photos of anyone or any situations found on the internet. The photos need to be evidence and records of real people, objects and events that I have met or encountered in person. Therefore, I am certain that the photos have not been digitally manipulated by anyone else. For example, snapshots of friends, acquaintances and scenes from my private life build up a highly personal archive. Also, a variety of everyday objects, which are out of alignment, overlapped with other everyday objects, heaped together, rusty, dirty, stained and so on, are derived from their everyday usage and those qualities enable me to deal with the “private” with intimacy and certainty.

By means of Photoshop, I start with creating meticulous cut-outs from those snapshots, resizing and combining them to make montages, and then manipulation of colour, tonal information, contrast, etc. are applied onto these. In this process, I attempt to tangle the pedigree of the images in order to give them a new lineage and appearance. I intend these photo montages to reflect the puzzling nature of the inspiration behind the work – the Galapagos syndrome-like confusion of origin and reckless metamorphosis of identity which is notably seen in contemporary Japanese culture. This condition is evolved from the unique situation where overwhelming cultural fragments from overseas have been integrated into Japanese culture since the Meiji era (1868- 1912), and which continues to accelerate with the help of the Internet. In order to merge a wide range of information into a single culture in such a short period of time, it needs to be equalized in depth, fragmented and separated from its own history or origin.

This confusion has been diffused and intertwined with recent cultural development. In some cases, it has had a convoluted journey to acquire a reasonable position in a foreign culture and ended up having twisted characteristics that are analogous to codes or the code-making process. Depictions of fantasy in computer games, Anime, Manga, and pop idol groups in Japan are good examples as well as some linguistic code-like confusion in Katakana, Japanese-English and translations of English titles into Japanese in the Japanese film industry. These gradual developments of twisted fusion of the West and Japan blur the seriousness of concerns of race and identity. It has also led to a trend in which the younger generations play with not only their own physical traits such as eye, skin and hair colour, but also various styles from overseas without understanding possible problems regarding appropriation of culture and identity. Which is to say contemporary Japan is a mutated and uncontrollable montage of diverse culture.

My attempt to render and parody these mutations of identity is named here “Pseudo-code making”. It amplifies and underscores the bizarre and unorthodox way of “being” in Japanese culture. I apply a very particular methodology in order to approach this “pseudo-code making” which involves combining three media: the aforementioned snapshots, photo montages, and paintings.

Recreating the images of the photo montages as oil paintings is the key to archive this conceptual rendering. In recent years, images created by photo manipulations and paintings are interrelated and together they generate distinguishable traits in a notion of the real. For instance, highly developed visual effects technology in the film industry and skillful photo manipulations in commercial advertisements such as air brushing faces and skin are ubiquitous ways of playing with reality. There have been tremendous efforts to make the unreal real with these technological developments. The traces of digital manipulations in the images are amazingly inconspicuous. That is why the digital has managed to acquire plausible reality. And now, these techniques no longer belong to the professionals. Widespread easily-handled, reasonably-priced photo enhancing and editing applications for smart phones enable people to play with reality in photography. To a certain extent, this elevates the degree of faux reality and deceptiveness in photography.On the other hand, the idea of tangible fiction can be a positive aspect in paintings because accumulation of all visible traces, which are created by the normal clumsiness of one's hands and the irregularity in physical movements, can be used to build up plausibility as a fiction. Manipulation, recreation, or editing can be associated with a sense of integrity in connection with painting, whereas manipulation in photo montages inclines towards forgery.

The main pillar of my concept is developed from this notion of deceptiveness and integrity in photo manipulations and paintings. Clear roles are given to each stage of creation. Snapshots are used as epitome of the real, photo manipulations are embodiment of forgery, and paintings are plausible fiction. To put it differently, the real world gains deceptiveness as forgery, subsequently, this photographic deceptiveness merges with the trustworthy fiction of paintings. Therefore, the final production has unique paradoxical juxtapositions within its developments and existence. This gradual shift in the sense of reality and perception manifest as enigmatic complexity in the final work. And it finally becomes a rendition of the tortuous and complex ideas of the Galapagos-syndrome like confusion. It is a clear depiction of the real world although it contains ideas of a parallel world.